MARCH 2016
HOW TO PRAY • Please pray that I would know God’s firm foundation as I navigate yet another season of transition. • Pray that God would guide my team and I as we connect with Suwan Prasit, our new community. Pray that we would know how God wants to use us as salt and light and how we fit into the great ways this community is already growing. • Pray for my old community of Potong, especially the homework club that is still continuing today. Pray that God would use the volunteers to positively influence the children and youth of that community.
Hi Family and Friends, If one thing is consistent, it’s change. As I’ve adjusted back to life and ministry in Bangkok, I have accepted that transition is inevitable. Over the past month, I’ve moved into a new community, I’ve met new neighbors, I’ve gotten to know new teammates, and I’ve learned new life rhythms. My life feels similar to before, but it’s still so drastically different. Alex, Gary, and Limxuv (pictured below) form a small team of interns who live near me in our new community. As I am still learning more about this new neighborhood, I’m excited to introduce you to a few small pockets of our community, called Suwan Prasit. Even though this season is marked by so much change, I am grateful that change is not the only constant. I am forever reminded that Jesus, too, is constant. In a world that’s unstable, in my life that never ceases to change, Jesus is that fixed point, that firm foundation. Though relationships may come and go, Jesus proves to be my faithful companion. Transitions may always be present, but, thankfully, so is our God. I pray that we would learn to be grateful for change—and even more so grateful for our unchanging God! In His arms,
SUWAN PRASIT สุวรรณประสิธ์ิ
Each morning, I walk out my door to the smell of freshly fried snacks. My neighbors, all relatives to some degree, have come together to form a small cooperative of snack-making madness. Fried rice cakes, fried banana chips, fried lotus blossom cookies, fried shrimp chips, fried pork rinds, fried everything! And they won’t stop giving me bags upon bags of fresh munchies. They have welcomed me into the neighborhood and have been helping me get settled. Welcome to this little corner of my new community, Suwan Prasit!
Yaay Ramruay (pictured left) has been in the snack making business all her life. She’s originally from the NortheasternThailand, but she moved to Bangkok a few decades back to find a better market; her relatives came in tow. Even well into her 60’s, she and her husband are as hardworking as ever. Every morning, her husband loads baskets suspended on a pole across his back filled with every kind of fried munchie you can imagine. He walks down the street selling to pedestrians and mom-and-pop stores alike and returns when he’s sold out.
Upon returning to Bangkok, I moved into this new community with three of our team’s interns. Suwan Prasit is a community that popped up around the local Buddhist temple, Wat Suwan Prasit. It is an old community located about a 20 minute walk from my last home in Potong. Being relatively close to each other, I have able to visit my friends and old neighbors in Potong frequently. Top: My landlady making flower garlands; Bottom: Bananas for banana chips
Suwan Prasit, over the years, has been able to develop itself in many ways. Their councils have worked hard to obtain grants for infrastructural development. It is home to two small preschools. Many residents have built with more permanent materials. There is even a small one-room church building erected by the local congregation consisting of two or so families.
My landlord and his dog
I am excited to learn about community development from our local leaders and neighbors. There is much experience and great knowledge here. And at the same time, I know that our team has much more to offer than community development. I believe that God has a great plan for reconciliation, redemption, and a more dignifying and just form of development in Suwan Prasit.
My teammates and I have begun to build relationships with our neighbors, to get to know the local leadership, and to feel out the spiritual climate of our community. Please pray with us as we seek God’s guidance regarding our role as learners and partners in the great things that God has already begun here in Suwan Prasit!
with potong
RECONNECTING
Top: Intern Alex teaches Thai; Bottom: Volunteers celebrating with the kids
Having been in the United States for five months, I was eager to reconnect with friends and partners in ministry here in Thailand. During my first two years in Bangkok, a few young adults and I began a homework club in Potong where kids could come to learn guitar, practice reading Thai, and even learn some English. The hope was that the activity would be continue to bless this community even if I was no longer there. I am so glad to say that the volunteers and kids are still meeting each week, and I’ve been able to rejoin them here and there over the last two months. Boung, Guitar, and Bank, young adults from our neighboring church, faithfully volunteer their time and energy to teach these children, and I know that God is so pleased by how they care for these little ones well.
KYLE'S CONTACT INFO: Phone: +66-090-979-8187 Email: kyle.apuna@gmail.com Mailing Address: Thai Peace Foundation 3750/9 Ladprao Soi 146/1 Khlongchan, Bangkapi, Bangkok Thailand 10240